‘The last law voted in Parliament, taking outside the control and capacities of ANI the conflict of interest at the level of local administrations is not meant to help us’, said the head of state.

President Traian Basescu on Thursday said he would raise the issue of Romania’s accession to the border-free Schengen area at the European Council meeting. ‘An assessment will be made on the Schengen area management aimed, among others, at the EU’s capacity to deal with the pressure at the borders, concerning emigration, the asylum-related policies, the police and judicial cooperation, and on this ground, I shall raise again the issue of Romania’s access to Schengen area,’ the head of state said on Henri Coanda Airport, before leaving for Belgium, at the European Councile summit.
President Basescu said that Romania’s arguments for beginning the process of joining Schengen derived from the CVM report, which shows the good functioning of justice overall, through the manner in which the DNA, ANI and ICCJ activity is evaluated. According to the President, Romania believes that the process concerning the access to the Schengen area must begin ‘even if in the CVM report there are also sufficient elements criticised, but these criticisms are mainly addressed to the political class, to Parliament.’
‘The last law voted in Parliament, taking outside the control and capacities of ANI the conflict of interest at the level of local administrations is not meant to help us, but, anyhow, I have the obligation to raise this issue and to back the need to begin the process of accession to the Schengen area,’ Basescu said.
The head of state mentioned that another discussion topic at the European Council meeting would be related to economic growth, jobs, social exclusion. ‘Here we also have aiding viewpoints. Certainly, anyone’s answer can be ‘You have not used the instruments the EU already made available,’ the President said.
He mentioned that another extremely important topic to Romania on the European Council agenda was the signing of the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement with the EU by the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.Moldova need to combats corruption in the judiciary
Regarding Moldova, President Basescu told Jurnal TV that Moldova will not be welcomed in the European community unless the Moldovan authorities combat corruption in the judiciary. ‘You will not be members of the European Union unless you put order in your judiciary (…) There will be public pressure as it was in Romania,’ Basescu said.

Extraordinary Gov’t meeting on Saturday
Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the Government will hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday to approve the draft law on ratifying the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union and to approve an ordinance on the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline. We shall meet again on Saturday in an extraordinary government meeting to approve the draft law on ratifying the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union and possibly, also to approve an emergency ordinance related to the gas pipeline,’ Ponta said in the beginning of the government meeting.